STUART, Fla. — The Martin County Sheriff's Office confirmed Tuesday the body of a missing teenager who disappeared while swimming in the ocean off Jensen Beach has been found.
At a news conference, Chief Deputy John Budensiek said the body of Nick Alincy was found shortly after 9 a.m. Tuesday at Bathtub Beach, about five miles south of where he went into the water more than 24 hours earlier.
"Unfortunately, he drifted to this location," Budensiek said.
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Deputies believe Alincy got caught in a rip current while he was swimming Monday morning.
The 17-year-old St. Lucie West Centennial High School student played for the PSL Hurricanes recreational soccer club and also coached a youth recreation team.
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Marine and aviation units, a dive team, and road patrol deputies and detectives from the Martin County Sheriff's Office, along with Martin County Fire Rescue, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission had been searching for Alincy since Monday morning.
In addition, Budensiek said Alincy's family spent much of the night walking the beach with flashlights, searching for any signs of their loved one.
"We empathize and sympathize with them, and we're keeping the family in our thoughts and prayers as they process what they've had to deal with in the last 24 hours," Budensiek said.
The chief deputy admitted that based on witnesses who saw Alincy suddenly go underwater and not resurface, authorities knew early on Monday they were probably not going to rescue the teen, and it would be a recovery effort instead.
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"You can never take the ocean for granted. The ocean has a mind of its own," Budensiek said.
"I don't think we can describe the emotions we are enduring, that we are harboring right now. This is a nightmare. This is a dream that we are hoping we will wake up from," Elda Decimus-Jean, Alincy's aunt, said. "This is a tragedy. This is a drama. This is our reality that this family is dealing with, and we want the public to be a part of it. Nick could have been your son, your daughter."
Decimus-Jean said her family wants to thank the community, all the rescue teams, including but not limited to Martin County Fire Rescue, the U.S. Coast Guard, Jupiter Island Police, FWC and all of the private vessel operators and residents who worked tirelessly alongside the Martin County Sheriff's Office to give all their efforts and resources to locate her nephew.
She also told WPTV she wanted to give a special thanks to Alincy's friends and their families, his soccer leagues and the Port St Lucie Hurricane soccer club.
"Unfortunately the outcome is not what we wanted, but we must humbly accept that there's a lesson to learn even through this pain," Decimus-Jean said.